Suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on villagers and torched a number of buildings in a new attack in northeast Nigeria, witnesses said on Monday.

Resident Ahmad Ali told AFP that roughly two dozen assailants, who were “obviously Boko Haram fighters” stormed the village of Kwajaffa at dusk on Sunday and ordered residents out of their homes.

Locals thought the Islamist insurgents “were going to preach and leave”, but in fact they “opened fire on the crowd”, Ali said.

Ali said the death toll likely passed two dozen but no other eyewitness could be reached immediately to confirm the figures.

“They then went on setting fire to homes, burning half of the village before they left,” he added.

Kwajaffa lies in the southern part of Borno, one of the states hit hardest during Boko Haram’s deadly six-year uprising.

Details of attacks often take time to emerge, given the poor communication infrastructure in the embattled region.

Babagana Mustapha said a relative who fled the attack in Kwajaffa arrived at his home in southern Borno’s commercial hub of Biu, 35 kilometres (22 miles) from Kwajaffa, at 11.30 pm on Sunday.

This relative reported similar details concerning the attack, including a number of casualties, Mustapha told AFP.

Nigeria’s military — backed by forces from Chad, Niger and Cameroun — has claimed huge victories over Boko Haram in the northeast over the last two months, retaking a series of towns and villages previously under rebel control.
But experts have warned that hit-and-run attacks by the group could increase amid the added military pressure.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan’s perceived mishandling of the Islamist insurgency was seen as a main reason for his overwhelming defeat in the North in last month’s presidential election.

Nigeria’s president-elect Muhammadu Buhari will not take charge of the fight against Boko Haram until late May, but he has vowed to be a more effective commander-in-chief than Jonathan, in part by ensuring that the military is properly funded and equipped.

Aside from the use of force, Buhari has pledged to use so-called “soft power” to stem the killing, including much-needed development programmes targeted specifically at the impoverished region.

In another incident, seven civilians were killed in an attack in Chad blamed on Nigerian Boko Haram rebels, officials said on Monday.

The Islamist militants ambushed people on their way to a market in Tchoukou Telia near Lake Chad on Friday, Dimouya Souapebe, the deputy prefect of Baga Sola told AFP.

Some of the victims had their throats cut while others were shot, he said.
Improvised mines were later discovered along the road between Tchoukou Telia and Ngouboua close to the Nigerian border, which Boko Haram also raided in recent weeks.

On Friday the head of the Chadian general staff, General Brahim Seid, told AFP that Boko Haram’s “nuisance capacity” had been heavily limited by the military intervention.